


The Warmth of Mara

by Kittisnake



Series: Mara's Thief [3]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Age Difference, Anal Sex, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 16:24:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7581412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittisnake/pseuds/Kittisnake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which an encounter with a frost dragon forces Garion and Erandur to get past their inhibitions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Frost Dragon

If the dragon at Markarth Bridge had been a traditional fire-breathing type, Erandur would have been fine. He was a Dunmer, after all, and fire was his element. But this was a frost dragon. It swooped over them, shrieking ice into the carriage. Then it did it again. Erandur couldn't remember if he had a frost resistance potion in his pouch. He wouldn't have been able to untie it anyway. Instead, he fell off the bench just as the dragon sent another icy blast down on them.

Fortunately everyone else in the carriage was either Nord or Dragonborn, so they could withstand the cold. The driver and his human passengers leapt from the cart, weapons drawn. Garion stood up on the bench and screamed “YOL!” A burst of fire came from his mouth, canceling out the fourth ice storm from the dragon. Then it was on. 

With a thud, the dragon landed. Erandur heard the Nords yelling as they attacked it. The dragon snapped at them furiously. Garion shouted again: “SUL GRAH DUN!” The sound of weapons on scales grew louder until finally the dragon made a choking sound. There was a flash of light and a collective gasp from the Nords. Erandur succumbed to the cold.

He woke up to bouncing. Someone was holding him tightly to their chest as they rode a galloping horse up a hill. “Damn the stud-fees, I never should have left Frost in Solitude. We'd be in the city by now if we were on him. Gods, Erandur, please don't freeze to death. I should have shouted that fire at you instead of the dragon. I just wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry. Please, just stay with me. We're almost there.” Erandur blacked out again.

He woke up again, this time wrapped in furs on a firm bed. An old woman with a butterfly tattoo on her face was sitting next to him talking to someone across the room. “I've given him the most powerful anti-frost potions I have. The only thing to do now is keep him warm.”

“Thank you, Bothela.” Garion said.

“It's been an honor, my Thane,” she replied.

“Yeah, whatever,” Garion muttered as she left the room. He sat down on the bed next to Erandur and stroked his gray-streaked hair. Worry filled his emerald eyes. 

“Gar...on?” the Dunmer whispered.

“Oh thank the gods, you're awake.” Garion sounded like he was about to cry. “I was afraid you weren't going to...you're still so cold.”

“Where...we?”

“In Markarth. Understone Keep. I was going to take you to the alchemist's shop, but the Jarl sent his guards to bring us here instead. He wanted to give me a commendation for defeating the dragon. I told him he could stuff it until you were seen to, so he brought Bothela up here to take care of you while he made me endure some dull ceremony. I just got out.”

“Thane?”

“Yeah, Jarl Igmund made me a Thane of the Reach. It's just a meaningless title; there's no real power behind it. I don't really care about it.” He lay down next to Erandur and pulled his fur-wrapped form close to him. “I'm so sorry about this. I didn't realize that was a frost dragon until it was too late.”

“Is...all...ight. Is...been...a'venchoor.” Erandur was still too cold to speak properly.

“Too much of one,” Garion whispered.

Erandur smiled weakly. “Gla...you...here.” He fell asleep again.

Three days later the Dunmer was still chilled to the bone. Bothela's potions took the edge off the cold, but they couldn't dissipate it. Finally she suggested to Garion that, since Erandur was a priest, maybe Divine intercession was needed. A little while later Hamal, the head Priestess of Dibella arrived. She laid her hands on Erandur's head and whispered a spell. A glowing light surrounded him briefly.

“Did that help?” she asked him.

“A little. At least now I'm not slurring my words,” he said.

“Well that's good,” she sighed. She turned to Garion who was hovering in the doorway. “That's about as much as I can do. We don't follow the same Divine so I can't give him the full amount of healing he needs. The best thing to do is take him to Riften and let the priests in the Benevolence take care of him. They can do a lot more than I can in this situation.”

Garion sighed. “Well, I was going there eventually anyway. I live in Riften. But will he be able to handle the journey?”

“If you get him there fast enough.”

“Thank you, Hamal. We'll leave as soon as we can.”

That night Erandur woke up to find Garion picking him up, furs and all, and carrying him out of the Keep. None of the guards noticed them as they hurried through the dark streets and out the front gate. Once they were outside, Garion put his friend down behind a stand of juniper trees and went to the stables. A few minutes later he returned with a small cart. He picked Erandur up again and put him on a bed of furs in the back of the cart and stowed their packs around him to keep him from falling out. When he had finished, he knelt next to the Dunmer and flashed a wry smile at him.

“Well, this wasn't exactly what I had planned to steal when I got here but it'll do. I don't know about the carriage, but I'm sure my fence will give me a good price for the horse and furs.”

“You're incorrigible,” Erandur murmured.

“You serve your Lady and I serve mine,” Garion whispered. He bent down and kissed Erandur on the forehead before climbing over him to the driver's seat. That kiss warmed the Dunmer more than any potion could.


	2. Mara's Benevolence

A week later Erandur was refilling one of the oil horns that lined the sides of the main room of Mara's Benevolence when he noticed a rabbit sniffing at the hem of his robe. There was a shredded length of rope hanging from its collar. It looked up at him, twitched its nose, and hopped away under one of the pews. Just when he moved to follow it he heard a familiar voice that made his heart skip a beat.

“I'm not surprised he chewed his leash so quickly. Iona told me he's gone through three solid blocks of wood since you brought him home.”

Garion and a little blonde Imperial girl had just entered the Benevolence. Erandur stood transfixed by the half-filled lamp. It had been four days since he had last seen the Altmer. Since then Erandur had been fully warmed by Mara's love and the blessings of his fellow priests and Garion had transformed from an exhausted, disheveled mess to an elegantly beautiful Altmer. Erandur had always thought Garion was lovely but until that moment he didn't realize how heartbreakingly gorgeous the mer could be when he was at his best.

“I didn't think he'd chew rope. He usually likes wood,” the little girl said.

“He chews on everything, Lucia. Now go find him before he desecrates the temple.”

The girl went up to the high priest at the altar and tugged on his sleeve. “Excuse me, Maramal, have you seen my bunny? He's kind of reddish-brownish and he's got a bright white tail. He ate his leash and got away from me when we came in.”

“No I haven't,” Maramal told her. He looked up to see the Altmer behind her. “Hello, Garion. I take it you're here to see Erandur.”

“Yes. Sorry about the rabbit. Lucia wanted to show him off, but he jumped out of her arms when I opened the door. I hope he hasn't gnawed on anything.”

Erandur spoke up. “He hasn't yet. He's sniffing around under that pew right now.”

They all turned to him. “Hopscotch!” Lucia cried. “Come back here!” She crawled under the pew after her pet. Garion, all smiles, came over and clasped Erandur's hand in greeting.

“You're warm again.”

“Yes, Mara be praised. I was finally able to get out of bed yesterday. I take it that's your daughter?”

“It is. Lucia! Come and meet Erandur.” The girl crawled out from under the pew, rabbit in hand, and ran up to the two elves. 

“Hello Mister Erandur. I'm Lucia and this is Hopscotch.”

“Hello Lucia and Hopscotch.” He looked at Garion quizzically. “I thought you said you had a dog.”

“We do. She brought the rabbit home two weeks ago." He shrugged. "He's housebroken so I let her keep him.”

Maramal came over and took the flask of lamp oil from Erandur. “Here, Brother. You go visit with your friends. I'll finish up here.”

“Thank you, Brother,” Erandur replied. He led the others to a bench on the side of the temple. Lucia gave him Hopscotch before climbing up on her father's lap. Garion handed him a carrot.

“So he won't chew on your tassels,” he explained. “So has the Riften Benevolence been all you hoped it would be?”

“Oh yes, it's been wonderful. I haven't fell this close to Mara since She first called me to Her service. I've been very happy here.”

“Good.” Garion fell silent for a moment. “I'm sorry I wasn't able to come by earlier. I was so exhausted when I got home that I slept for a day and a half.”

“He was really tired,” Lucia added. 

“When I got up I had to wrap up some business affairs and then I needed to spend some time with this one”—he hugged his daughter—“so I really haven't had a moment to get away until now.”

“That's all right. I wasn't able to get out of bed until yesterday anyway,” Erandur replied. He was enchanted by Garion's fatherly side. He hadn't expected the Altmer to openly display his affection for his child. Most elven parents weren't like that. They loved their children, very deeply in fact, but they wouldn't show that love in public. But then, Garion never had been very good at hiding his emotions. 

They fell silent again, not sure what to say. That was when Lucia piped up with a million questions. She wanted to know why Lady Mara was crying and did Erandur marry people like Maramal did and was Dawnstar nice and what was it like living next to the ocean and had he ever seen an iceberg or a whale or a horker? Then she told the priest about how she found her rabbit and how Papa brought Meeko the dog home from his last journey before this one and Iona the housecarl who looked after her while Papa was away and the children she played with at the orphanage. Garion kept the rabbit supplied with carrot slices while he added his own comments whenever he could get a word in edgewise. 

When Lucia finally ran out of questions, Garion had one of his own. “Would you like to have dinner with us tonight?”

“Iona made a really good stew before she left,” Lucia said

Erandur looked quizzically at Garion. “Where did she go?”

“I gave her some time off. She went to visit her sister in Windhelm.”

“I'd love to have dinner with you.”

“Wonderful. Shall we go?”

Garion helped Lucia down and took the rabbit from Erandur. Lucia took the priest's hand and escorted him out of the Temple. From the altar, Maramal watched them leave. “Did you see that, Dinya?” he asked his wife. 

“I did,” she said. “They're fair besotted with each other.”

“Maybe he can use his influence to convert the criminal element in this city,” Maramal said. Dinya just laughed.

“I don't think he's concerned with all of Riften's criminals. Just that one in particular.”


	3. Sunset on the Lake

It was the perfect end to a perfect afternoon. Lucia and Garion had given Erandur the grand tour of Honeyside before dinner, then Erandur told Lucia stories about the ocean before she went to bed. Now she and the rabbit were asleep downstairs, Meeko the dog was sniffing busily along the edge of the lake, and the elves were leaning on the porch railing, enjoying a tankard of mead as they watched the sun set. The light reflecting off the waters of Lake Honrich made everything, even Erandur's pewter-gray skin, look warmer. Garion's yellow skin and hair turned pure gold.

“You shine like a newly-minted septim,” Erandur said.

“That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me,” said Garion. “How much of that mead have you had?”

“What, you think I only pay compliments when I'm drunk? I've only had two tankards.”

“Yes, but this is Black-Briar Reserve.” Garion waved the empty bottle. “It's stronger than the cheap mead they sell in Dawnstar. You only get this if you know the right people.”

“As I'm sure you do.”

“I _am_ the right people,” the thief said with a smirk.

Erandur laughed. “Cocky, aren't you?”

“Yes. And a little tipsy,” admitted Garion. “I think I deserve it, though. This is the first time that I've let myself unwind in...gods, it's been at least a year.”

“I know what you mean,” Erandur sighed. “When I was in the Benevolence, I realized that I haven't been this relaxed since I returned to Dawnstar. Or maybe since I left the first time. I've finally dropped the guilt I was carrying around for eighty years. It feels like a weight's been lifted off of me.”

“You know it wasn't your fault,” Garion said softly.

“Hmmph.”

“It really wasn't.” Garion leaned closer to the Dunmer. “Don't forget, I saw what happened. What choice did you have? You made the best decision you could under the circumstances. When you're between a rock and a hard place all you can do is keep moving forward.”

Erandur sighed as he looked off at the darkening mountains. “Strange when you think about it. You weren't even born when that happened, and yet you're the only person who really understands what was really going on.”

“So what?” Garion shrugged. “You're almost four hundred and I haven't even reached my first century. That doesn't matter. What links us is shared experiences. Not just what happened in the Dreamstride, but in our own everyday lives. We both know what it's like to have to completely change your identity. The only real difference between us is you've already accepted your new self and I'm still working on it.”

“It took a while for me to get to this point,” said Erandur.

“But you still got there.”

“Is that what's been bothering you? I wondered why you got so glum after dinner. Garion, you will be fine. I've been watching you. You're the most multifaceted mer I've ever met. You go from being a brash thief to an arrogant Altmer to a brave warrior to a powerful legendary figure. But underneath it all is a good person. Think about all the ways you've used your powers. Kynesgrove would be a pile of rubble, Lucia would still be on the streets, the people of Dawnstar would still be tormented by Vaermina. And even myself. I might have frozen to death if not for you.”

“If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have been in danger in the first place,” Garion said. “You would have been safe in Dawnstar, tending to the people there...”

Erandur interrupted him. “And I would have been bored out of my mind. You were right when you said I had to get out of there for a while. I needed this trip. It's been wonderful. All of it.”

“Even the dragon?” Garion asked skeptically.

“Yes. Even the dragon. Because look at where it got me. I've been wanting to visit the Riften Benevolence for decades. True, I would have liked to have come under less dire circumstances, but I'm still here. I feel like a new mer, and I have you to thank for it because I wouldn't have left Dawnstar if you hadn't saved me.”

“Me? I didn't know how to save you. Hamal was the one who suggested I bring you here.”

“But she wasn't the one who brought me, was she? She wasn't the one who stole all the bedding from Jarl Igmund's guest room to keep me warm, she didn't steal the carriage and horse to carry me across Skyrim. She's not the one I'm talking to right now. All Hamal did was make a suggestion. You were the one who acted on it. And it's because of your actions that I can stand on your back porch and watch the sun set with you.” He moved forward until he was almost touching the thief. “Thank you, Garion. For everything you've done. You're a wonderful person and I'm glad I met you.”

“”You wouldn't say that if you knew some of the things I've done. I did some terrible things. I fought for the Thalmor in the Great War. I've killed a lot of people.”

“So did Casimir. But that's not who I am now. And that soldier, that was whoever you were when you lived in Firsthold. You're Garion now, and Garion is a wonderful person.” He was so close now he could almost feel the Altmer's heartbeat through his shirt. 

“How did you know I changed my name?” Garion whispered.

“I didn't, but it makes sense.” Erandur reached up and put his arms around the thief's neck, pulling his head down until their faces were inches from each other. “I don't care who you were. Just who you are now.” He leaned forward and kissed him.

Some time later—seconds? Minutes? Hours?—they pulled apart slightly and stared into each other's eyes. The Altmer reached up and ran his fingers down the Dunmer's cheek, feeling the softness of his brown beard. “I've been wanting to do that, but I wasn't sure if it was...appropriate,” he murmured. 

“Why, because I'm a priest?” Erandur asked. “Mara is the Divine of Love, remember? And love has both a physical and emotional aspect. We may not indulge in casual sex like the Dibellans, but Mara doesn't require that we remain celibate.” He traced the outline of Garion's perfectly pointed ear which made the Altmer whimper softly. “And believe me, there is nothing casual about my interest in you.”

Garion's only response was to kiss Erandur again. He nipped the Dunmer's lower lip, making him gasp. Erandur responded by slipping his tongue in the Altmer's mouth as he pinched the tip of his ear. They tangled their tongues together and caressed each other's ears until they were both panting with desire. 

“Damn,” whispered Garion.

Erandur smiled. “Shall we go inside?”

When Meeko came up the steps later he found the back porch deserted and the door firmly closed.


	4. Shared Warmth

As soon as the door closed behind them, they began shedding their outer clothes until they fell onto the bed. Any shyness or uncertainty either of them might have felt vanished as they explored each other with their hands and mouths, enjoying the contrast between smooth gold and wrinkled gray as they kissed and nibbled every inch of exposed skin. Soon their smallclothes joined the rest of their garments as they continued caressing each other. Heat radiated off their entwined bodies.

Garion rolled over so he could dig through the drawer of his bedside table. When he found the bottle of Dibellan oil he was looking for, he raised himself up and sat on his heels. He poured the oil over his fingers before reaching for the Dunmer again. Erandur closed his eyes as Garion stroked him as gently as if he knew how long it had been since the priest had lain with someone. The thief touched him in all the right places, guiding him to the highest peak of ecstasy--and stopped. Erandur's eyes flew open. He glared in frustration until Garion recorked the bottle and pulled him closer and closer until they were joined. 

"I love you," the priest whispered.

"I love you, too," the thief replied. 

They made love as quietly as they could, muffling their moans so that they wouldn't wake the others. The next morning they found teeth marks on their shoulders and a small rip in Garion's pillow. At the time they didn't even feel the bites, lost as they were in the sheer intoxication of love. Erandur had never felt so much passion in his life. Whether it came from Mara or Dibella, he didn't care just so long as it never ended. But when it did end it was as exquisite as the moment Mara chose him as her priest.

They lay tangled in a sweaty heap on the rumpled blankets, trying to catch their breath. The priest traced his fingers along the muscles of Garion's back. The thief hummed with pleasure at the touch. Then Meeko started howling outside and the afterglow was over.

"Dammit," Garion grumbled. "He's going to wake up the whole town if I don't let him in." He gave Erandur a quick kiss as he rolled off the bed. Meeko pushed in the door when Garion opened it, sniffed at the clothes on the floor, and then flopped down in the doorway between the bedroom and kitchen with a loud sigh. Garion blew out the lamp over the bed and crawled under the covers next to Erandur. 

"Mmmmm," he said, pulling the priest close. "You're so warm. If I knew Dunmer were this cozy I would have invited you to my bed a lot earlier."

"And if I had known you were this cuddly I would have accepted," said Erandur as he snuggled against the Altmer's chest. 

"I never thought we'd end up like this," Garion murmured.

"Mara works in mysterious ways."

"You think She brought us together?"

"I know she did."

Garion breathed a laugh. "You are a true priest, aren't you?"

"I am. Just as you're a true thief."

"If you say that I stole your heart I'm going to push you off the bed," Garion threatened.

Erandur shoved him playfully. "No, I said that because you were so happy when I told you that you gleamed like a septim in the sunset. Everyone knows thieves love gold more than anything else."

"Not this one," Garion said, kissing his forehead. "This thief loves a Dunmer priest more than any amount of gold."

Erandur smiled. "There's hope for you yet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was never happy with this chapter so I rewrote it about a year after I originally posted the story. Now I like it.


End file.
